The 2024 International Anti-Corruption Day (IACD) focuses on the role young guardians of integrity play as advocates, raising awareness about corruption and its impacts on their communities.

The 2024 IACD commemorates the twenty first anniversary of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). This day is a celebration of the progress in the fight against corruption since it was initiated; and a reminder that there is still a lot of work to be done.

A current example of youth calling power to account is the work being done by Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change. This youth-led organisation is currently leading a landmark case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) alongside 100 countries and civil society organisations, urging the court to clarify government’s climate responsibilities. While the court's decision won’t be legally binding, it could set a powerful precedent for strengthening global climate agreements in the years ahead.

Chapters of Transparency International across the world are calling power to account. Recently the Papua New Guinea chapter lambasted PNG's poor governance in controversial forestry deal. They claimed the project appears to be without any real due diligence or proper consideration around the environmental impact, the societal impact, or even the monetary and income value to PNG.

For New Zealand, International Anti-Corruption Day can remind us of our strengths and weaknesses.

We are fortunate to live in a country where integrity and accountability are highly valued and expected. The World Values Survey shows that there are strong public anti-corruption norms in New Zealand. We generally respect the rule of law. We support transparency in business and government practices so that best practice can enhance mana and shady deals can be exposed. We support open debate and free elections. We have built integrity systems that help us to be more resilient to corruption and conflict.

Nevertheless corruption is occurring here. We need a coordinated approach to fight a massive upsurge in fraud. According to Payments New Zealand, New Zealanders lost $194,269,962 to scams between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024. A recent survey by Netsafe and the Global Antiscam Alliance, estimates the loss as closer to $2.3 billion.

We have major issues around Tax fraud with insufficient resourcing applied to investigations and prosecutions of it; individual corrupt businesses and individual public servants supporting criminal practice, or facilitating money laundering and our inability to manage conflicts of interest within the central and local governments.

Research from Transparency International New Zealand published in August 2024 highlights our intransigence around worsening problems. Little is being done about:

• the poor formula for corruption prevention created by a dominant Executive and a weak Parliament
• low lobbying transparency
• weaknesses in political party funding controls
• public sector responsiveness to the public and public accountability
• the gutting of our media sector seriously inhibiting its ability to provide the transparency and accountability that we need.

The report also highlights the increasing interconnectedness of global corrupt business networks, and the vulnerability of New Zealand’s integrity systems in exposing and deterring these networks from exploiting our mana.

Our report calls for more coordinated anti corruption strategies and plans. It highlights the urgent need for a register of beneficial ownership of companies, trusts and limited partnerships, to enable a clearer view of who controls businesses operating in New Zealand.

“Whilst we live in a country with comparatively low levels of corruption, our complacency makes us vulnerable to those wanting to use our high trust values, our ‘ease of business’ and our good reputation to facilitate their wrongdoings” Says Julie Haggie, Chief Executive Officer of Transparency International New Zealand.

On 9 December and every day we need to stand #UnitedAgainstCorruption.

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